The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • My Q&A
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. SEO and Digital Marketing Q&A Forum
    2. Categories
    3. White Hat / Black Hat SEO
    4. Title Tag : use comma, pipe or colon (:)

    Title Tag : use comma, pipe or colon (:)

    White Hat / Black Hat SEO
    13 5 37.7k
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • gamesecure
      gamesecure last edited by

      Hi,

      If Title has two and three keywords then which one is better option to separate them either with comma or pipe or colon.

      Example : Arvixe Review, Coupons (Jun 2015)  and Uptime Report  (I used (,) as a separator)

      Arvixe Review is primary keywords  and Coupons and Uptime are secondary keywords. Aim is rank on keywords like Arvixe Review, Arvixe Coupons and Arvixe Uptime.
      Also, including current month and year with Title tag and it will change every month. Its means every month our title is changed.
      Is this effect in SEO?

      Suggest best possible title for keywords like Arvixe Review, Coupons (Jun 2015)  and Uptime Report.

      Rajiv

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Andy.Drinkwater
        Andy.Drinkwater last edited by

        You are fine using any of them and it's down to personal preference, although I use a pipe because it is clearer when looking at the title. It also depends on the Title as well - sometimes a pipe won't do the job and you need to use a comma.

        Also, including current month and year with Title tag and it will change every month. Its means every month our title is changed

        I would try to avoid this. You don't want the same page title to keep changing. By all means add something to the page that states when it was last updated, but I wouldn't use the Page Title for this.

        -Andy

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
        • ClaytonJ
          ClaytonJ last edited by

          We do alot of experiments for clients on the difference between pipes, colons and hyphens.

          99 out of 100 the pipe is the preferred separator.  Generally the pipe is best for both SEO and Clickability.   This is as the pipe also uses less pixels. Recommend as follows:-

          Most Important Key Word | Second Keyword | Brandname ( no more than 512 pixels in length or otherwise it truncates).

          If you detail a couple of options I can probably tell you what is likely best.

          gamesecure 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
          • PatrickDelehanty
            PatrickDelehanty last edited by

            Hi there

            This is going to require some research about your audience and what they may be searching for. No one knows your audience and business better than you, so you need to make sure that whatever you are putting in the titles are both the best representations of your user's searches and your website's content. Be natural, be real, and be specific.

            When it comes to pipes and hyphens, it doesn't matter. Here's a video from Matt Cutts on the subject.

            Hope this helps! Good luck!

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
            • ClaytonJ
              ClaytonJ last edited by

              Patrick

              The company I work for specializes in CTR on search results - we run complex experiments on them ie 30-40 today alone. There is a difference between pipes and hyphens on CTR.  It is small but it is statistically significant. Sure it is irrelevant to most but for big boys chasing keywords like "car insurance" etc it is vital as each click is has such high cost in competitive spaces.

              Matt Cutts noted the CTR factor between them as well. I do not believe it makes any difference on SEO except in so far as it uses more pixels.  So maybe we agree, but a clean tidy looking title that looks professional to the customer does have an impact on CTR.

              PatrickDelehanty 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
              • PatrickDelehanty
                PatrickDelehanty @ClaytonJ last edited by

                Hi John

                Yes, I am not disagreeing at all and sorry if that was portrayed somehow - especially if I gave a "free for all" point of view - this was not my intent. I was just referencing Matt from the perspective of "does it matter?" in Rajiv's question.

                I personally like pipes in my titles. As long as it's clean, speaks to the content, and consistent across the site in format, you should be all good.

                Be good!

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                • ClaytonJ
                  ClaytonJ last edited by

                  You are always right... so I got confused!  All good...

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                  • gamesecure
                    gamesecure @ClaytonJ last edited by

                    thanks John!

                    As you suggested that pipe is best for both SEO and clickability. So options should be as follow:

                    1. Arvixe Review | Coupons (Jun 2015)  | Uptime Report

                    Note -  we should use 'Arvixe with all there keywords . Even, few SEO research shows that a keywords should not be duplicated in Title. whats your take? we can use in such cases?

                    2. Arvixe Review | Arvixe Coupons (Jun 2015)  | Arvixe Uptime Report

                    3. Arvixe Review | Arvixe Discount Coupons  | Arvixe Uptime Report

                    Please Tell us which one would be better title.

                    ClaytonJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • gamesecure
                      gamesecure last edited by

                      there are lot of variations in using comma, title or colon. I do google search with following keywords :

                      1. hotels review

                      2. cheap flights

                      3. airlines review

                      4. mobile recharge

                      5. mobile review

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • ClaytonJ
                        ClaytonJ @gamesecure last edited by

                        The word Arvixe - would not be highly competitive - so need to use that 3 times. Coupons is competitive.

                        The below is the title that appears if I google Arvixe

                        Web Hosting | Shared Hosting | Website Hosting by Arvixe

                        Are you changing the Title to the home page or is it a new page? The Coupon page? The most common search term according to Semrush is "Arvixe Coupon".  The above suggestions appear to be targeting 3 different topics rather than one broadly, like your current title.  Need some more info on what page you are targeting and why - otherwise could be leading you down the garden path.

                        gamesecure 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • gamesecure
                          gamesecure @ClaytonJ last edited by

                          Page is https://www.sitegeek.com/arvixe
                          and want to target Arvixe Review, Arvixe Coupons and Arvixe Uptime Report

                          should title ? Arvixe Review | Arvixe Coupons (Jun 2015)  | Arvixe Uptime Report

                          or

                          Arvixe Review | Coupons (Jun 2015)  | Uptime Report

                          or

                          Arvixe Review : Arvixe Coupons (Jun 2015)  and Current Uptime Report

                          Arvixe Review is our primary keywords.

                          ClaytonJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • ClaytonJ
                            ClaytonJ @gamesecure last edited by

                            Below is a copy and paste of keywords relating to Arvixe obtained from Semrush. You should check them.  Coupon is very competitive, so I have skipped that. So I would suggest:-

                            Arvixe Hosting Review | Arvixe Coupon | Sitegeek

                            or

                            Arvixe Hosting Review | Arvixe Uptime Report | Sitegeek

                            You should include your brand name as google usually will do regardless. It really is a personal decision as you know your brand / company best. Hope this helps.

                            Keyword Volume CPC SERP source
                            arvixe coupon 480 18.85  
                            arvixe web hosting 170 6.10  
                            arvixe control panel 90 24.38  
                            arvixe hosting review 70 11.61  
                            arvixe cpanel login
                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • ScopeUK
                              ScopeUK last edited by

                              Re: pipe or hyphen in browser title, does anyone know which is the more accessible option?
                              GOV.UK, a leader in accessibility, uses hyphens...

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • 1 / 1
                              • First post
                                Last post
                              • Does Google and Other Search Engine crawl meta tags if we call it using react .js ?
                                MikeTek
                                MikeTek
                                0
                                4
                                844

                              • Keyword Phrase vs. separate keywords - Title Tag best practices
                                BobGW
                                BobGW
                                0
                                4
                                965

                              • What EMD Meta Title should we use and what about getting links to the same C-Block IP?
                                TT_Vakantiehuizen
                                TT_Vakantiehuizen
                                0
                                7
                                263

                              • Using Programmatic Content
                                SuperMikeLewis
                                SuperMikeLewis
                                0
                                3
                                553

                              • Geotag city different from postal address. Can I mention both cities together in title tags?
                                McTaggart
                                McTaggart
                                0
                                11
                                562

                              • In (or In-between) 2 cities - and mentioning both cities in title tags
                                McTaggart
                                McTaggart
                                0
                                4
                                481

                              • Why does my entire site show duplicate page titles for every single page? I have palced a canonical tag on index page will this correct the problem?
                                Francisco_Meza
                                Francisco_Meza
                                0
                                3
                                471

                              • Improve CTR with Special Characters in Meta-Description / Title Tags
                                SemZoom
                                SemZoom
                                0
                                5
                                6.2k

                              Get started with Moz Pro!

                              Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                              Start my free trial
                              Products
                              • Moz Pro
                              • Moz Local
                              • Moz API
                              • Moz Data
                              • STAT
                              • Product Updates
                              Moz Solutions
                              • SMB Solutions
                              • Agency Solutions
                              • Enterprise Solutions
                              • Digital Marketers
                              Free SEO Tools
                              • Domain Authority Checker
                              • Link Explorer
                              • Keyword Explorer
                              • Competitive Research
                              • Brand Authority Checker
                              • Local Citation Checker
                              • MozBar Extension
                              • MozCast
                              Resources
                              • Blog
                              • SEO Learning Center
                              • Help Hub
                              • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                              • How-to Guides
                              • Moz Academy
                              • API Docs
                              About Moz
                              • About
                              • Team
                              • Careers
                              • Contact
                              Why Moz
                              • Case Studies
                              • Testimonials
                              Get Involved
                              • Become an Affiliate
                              • MozCon
                              • Webinars
                              • Practical Marketer Series
                              • MozPod
                              Connect with us

                              Contact the Help team

                              Join our newsletter
                              Moz logo
                              © 2021 - 2026 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                              • Accessibility
                              • Terms of Use
                              • Privacy